Month: July 2007

After placing the last post for the day in the ground for the treehouse, there was a small mud pile where we are trying to make the ground deeper for the sandpile. We brought the hose into the sandbox, for mixing cement, and I guess (I was inside cleaning up lunch), Tucker filled the bottom up with water, made mud, got all muddy, and climbed in to play.
I don’t know what it is, but my kids love the squishy mud. They can’t resist it, and I cannot say how many times this summer they have made mud pies. But usually it is a little water and alot of dirt.
Not this time, by the end, Tucker looked like the Swamp Monster.

Look how BEAUTIFUL!

Slowly but Surely, are treehouse is rising from the ground! There are 4 of the 6 posts in the ground. and the beginning of the floor. We are really starting to progress, I had no idea the process that was involved in the art of treehouse building (and to be quite honest, this process is not as fast as Tuck would like, he is ready for the magical powers of his treehouse to wisk him off on adventures, just like Jack and Annie)
and it may not be “beautiful” to others, but seeing it just makes me feel so happy inside.
You see it makes me feel so proud of my Husband. He is such an amazing man, and I have always known this, but to see him conquering this project, for our boys, makes me realize this even more. I have seen him spend HOURS researching treehouses on the internet and figuring out which lumber to buy, measuring out the land, mixing cement, working closely with our boys showing them how to use the tools, makes me just fall in love all over again with this amazing man.
So to me, this treehouse is beautiful now, and is only going to get more beautiful, and will always be a symbol of a fathers love for his boys whenever I see it. Every family needs there own “Treehouse” every now and again, to break up the hum-drum of life.

I never new we had a photographer in our family, but as always, Tucker just has to be learning and doing something constantly. After a quick overview of how our digital camera works, he was off to capture the world. I was in the house, and Toph was out in the yard, he kind of just wandered… Here are a FEW of those pictures
We are calling this exhibit. “Thru the eyes of a 4 year old.” 🙂
Enjoy….

Toph has spent alot of time research how to build a treehouse, buying the right lumber, and etc, and now the building process has finally begun! He has been working hard the past few days…
I think it is going to be a process, so I will post ocassional pics, so we can watch the progress of our treehouse, and remember how much fun we had building it. Here are a few from this weekend!
Half of the fun of having a treehouse is building the treehouse right?
Getting the ground ready…

Tucker and Truman are big helpers:


We finally got a post hole digger:

Getting the dirt wet, so it is eaier to get out, wait a minute, what is getting more wet?


Notice the posts in the background, that is the first few for our treehouse! Hurray!

Yesterday was my Harry Potter Day. Toph took the day off work, so I could read the book, and to get a good start on the tree house. So the boys had a “boy day” (anything with the word boy in it, my kids love.)
We’ll as part of the day, Toph and the kids went to get there hair cut. We talked about taking lenghth off of Trumans hair, it Definitely need it, but I was not expecting this to walk through my door:

I started to cry. Not because I didn’t like it, but because it was such a shock and a change.
Today, my neighbor said, he looks like he has aged 18 months. He went from Baby to Toddler.
Trumans hair has become alot of his Identity, just walking out to the neighborhood breakfast, everyone paused to see who this new little boy was…then realized it was Truman.
Here is a picture from before the haircut so you can see what I mean!:

Also, when I say him, I could not help thinking about how much he looks like Tucker–here is a picture from when Tucker was this age they looked more alike then I could tell with that bush on Trumans head..:

So here is a big cheer for haircuts! Hurray!~

And also a big Hurray for being brothers and boys days!

Patrick has a shirt that he wears occasionally that says, “I’d rather be in Arizona” I believe that it was his Grandpa Nelsons Shirt, and every time he wore it, I use to think what is so great in Arizona, that you would rather be there?!?!
But now I know, and understand.
A few weekends ago was the Nelson Family Reunion, at Mama’s Ranch right outside Flagstaff, Arizona.
We had a fabulous time there, as well as driving there and back (The boys swam at both hotels, I think next time we go on vacation, we will go on vacation to the pool. This is something they enjoy immensely.).
It was a fun vacation, we enjoyed getting to know the Nelsons better, as well as spending more time together as a family…
Here are a few shots.
Phillips Chillin’ on the Couch:

Going for Dune Buggy rides with Grandma:


The Nelsons have some great Frisbee players, they played a few games of Ultimate while we were there. Here is a not good pic of Toph playing frisbee:

Patrick and Tuck Snacking:

The Sisters during their dance:

On the cabin porch (wearing the shirt Toph designed…aren’t they cute?)

Truman playing Tee-Ball, on the porch:
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There was also a Petting Zoo, Toph took the boys with his Cousin Dean and his daughter Emma:

On Santas Sleigh:


Now these animals were hungry, and not afraid of humans…. As you will see…
Dean feeding the deer:

Tucker feeding the deer:

Truman staring to feed the deer:

They got closer:

And Closer(as you can tell Truman was laughing his head off):

CLOSER!

Thanks Cousin Dean:

There were other animals there, Tuck liked this goat:

and this goat:

After seeing this much fun, wouldn’t you Rather be in Arizona?

I am counting the days down until the new Harry Potter is released…
Saw this on my Friend Heathers BLOG.
I have laughed and laughed and laughed about it all day long.
Again, hope you enjoy!

We love to try new foods at our house.
We try to encourage our children to try different types of food, as well as different combinations of food.
This morning Truman wanted to help make breakfast, I asked him to pull out the butter for our toast.
He did pull out the butter, but he also pulled out the sour cream.
Interesting I thought, I wonder if he really wants sour cream, and sure enough, he made himself a butter and sour cream toast this morning, and he ate it all up, pronouncing: “Delicious Mama!”

Almost daily lately my kids (esp. Tuck) ask to watch this on UTube.
Toph showed it to them almost a month ago.
And now I won’t have to go and search for the video, and I hope you like it too.

It is worth 2:28 of my time to watch Tucker and Truman stare at the computer screen , then Laugh at the end, while sitting on the edge of their seats in anticipation of what is coming.

A few weeks ago Truman stuck a pony bead up his nose–I should have learned this lesson then, but I didn’t.
This afternoon, we had some neighbors at our house, one of which got a bad bloody nose. I was attending to that situation, when I heard Truman say, “Mama, I found a Bowling Ball”, I looked across the yard to see Truman holding a marble in his left hand.
I thought in my head, as soon as I get this (bloody nose situation) under control, I need to run over there and grab that “Bowling Ball”.
I don’t like small things. I despise pony beads (especially now, after having Truman stuff one up his nose) but I HATE marbles and bouncy balls. They scare me, I have heard SO MANY horror stories from my Aunt Sue and Uncle Ken, (she was an EMT and he is a Fireman), about children choking on them, I try not to have them in my home, Truman found the marble somewhere outside in our backyard.
By the time the situation with the blood and the nose was under control, I went to find Truman. He no longer was holding the marble, and was staring into a hole in the post of his bed, and saying “Uh-oh Mama, My Ball Stuck”. My first thought, Thank Goodness it was in the bed and not his mouth where the marble was stuck.
Now, I had a dilemma, and my next thought, “the hole where the marble was stuck, was also the hole that enabled the bed to turn from a single bed to bunk bed. Ah, Crap.”
I had to get that marble out, or else these beds would never be bunkbeds. And believe you me, I was going to get this marble out because there was no way this marble could be that stuck, and there was not way that my boys weren’t going to use these beds as bunk beds.
Boy was I wrong about the marble not being that stuck.
First I flipped the bed upside down,
Then I wiggled the bed, in an attempt to loosen the marble.
It wasn’t working.
So I flipped the bed right side up, and tried to scrape the marble out, using my seam unpicker that happened to be the closest tool I could find, but
Nope, not budging.
Then I had, what I think, is an ingenious Idea. I thought, “If I drill a hole in the marble, then I can ease it out”
A great idea in theory.
As soon as I got the drill in the right position, the marble would roll. Not as good of an idea as I thought, but there seemed to be hope, that is why I drilled for about 35 minutes .
Then I thought, why am I drilling this, when it is glass?
I went to the tool box, got a screwdriver and a hammer, and chiseled until I got that marble out. It shattered and came out in pieces, but it came out.
But now, back to the age old question, Why must children try to find small spaces like noses and bed holes to stick bigger things into? Can’t we learn this same concept with a shape sorter?